John 1: 35-42 (links validated 1/3/24)
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Illustrated New Resources
Ordinary 2B (2024)
In the city of Werden, Germany, there stands a Catholic Church with a lamb carved out of stone and placed on its roof. It was said that when the Church was being built, a stone-carving mason fell from a high scaffold. His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured. How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at that time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved. To commemorate that miraculous escape, he carved a lamb in stone and placed it on the tower, in gratitude for the lamb that saved his life. — Today we are here at this Liturgy to remember and salute another Lamb Who died a cruel death to save not just one man, but all mankind. In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist introduces Jesus as the “Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” Peter said that the full weight of our sins fell upon Jesus (1Pt. 2:24)...
Other New Resources
Come and See
Many years ago, what was then the American Baptist Convention had something called Life Service Sunday, a day to especially encourage people to consider ministry as a profession. In 1959 they published a brochure which told about how various leaders had been called to ministry. Joan Thatcher, publicity director of the American Baptist Convention, asked Martin Luther King, Jr. to compose a statement for that brochure. In her request, Thatcher noted, “Apparently many of our young people still feel that unless they see a burning bush or a blinding light on the road to Damascus, they haven’t been called.’ This is what King wrote: My call to the ministry was neither dramatic nor spectacular. It came neither by some miraculous vision nor by some blinding light experience on the road of life. Moreover, it did not come as a sudden realization. Rather, it was a response to an inner urge that gradually came upon me. This urge expressed itself in a desire to serve God and humanity, and the feeling that my talent and my commitment could best be expressed through the ministry. At first I planned to be a physician; then I turned my attention in the direction of law. But as I passed through the preparation stages of these two professions, I still felt within that undying urge to serve God and humanity through the ministry...
Recommended Resources
*Come, Follow Me
("Soren Kierkegaard takes up the text of today's gospel and gives it a novel and unsettling interpretation. He says that Jesus wants us to be fishers of men not in the sense of sitting on some dock or in some boat and catching fish in a remote way..." and several other illustrations)Called by Name
A four-year old girl was at the pediatrician's office for a check-up. As the doctor looked into her ears with an otoscope, he asked her "Do you think that I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl remained silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked her "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down here?" Again, the girl did not answer him. Finally, the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked "Do you think I'll hear Barney in here?" At that, the little girl looked up with her eyes wide and said "Oh, no. Jesus is in my heart; Barney's on my underpants.Homiletic Ideas (Ordinary 2B)
How about those unkind comments about one another we so flippantly cast off? They don't help matters any. One writer put it this way: "God put you here for something more than to get out of here. Creation is still happening and the Creator wishes you to become a part of it. So, do something. Make love a present force. Make peace a possibility. Make justice more abundant in human affairs than even the water that pours over a waterfall. Let righteousness spread over the land." We have to look into our own hearts and see how we can foster love, not division.Where're You At?
(includes extended discussion of Greek word "meno" or "abide") (see more at "Abide" (mone and meno) in the Johannine Tradition)*Illustrations, Quotes and Lectionary Reflections (Ordinary 2B)
("I like the story of the young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, 'Are you a leader?'. Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, 'No,' and returned the application, expecting the worst...")
Illustrated Resources from 2009 to 2021
Epiphany (A)(2017)
We have a budding reader in our home, and so we are shifting from books wonderful in their simplicity (goodbye for a time, Cat in the Hat!) to books that have more detail and narrative depth. So, after a fall trip west from Wisconsin to South Dakota, we tackled Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It took far more interpretation—indeed, translation—than I first expected. Whoever said the past is a foreign country is right, because the world of a little girl of 19th century Wisconsin was not an easy connection to the world of a little girl in 21st century North Carolina. But as we read together, the necessities and the joys of that world began to shine through, and the 21st century girl found connection with her 18th century friend. As the story of one long-ago year in the life of the Ingalls family unfolded, my daughter grew more impressed with how the small community in the midst of a vast forest cared for each other and taught one another. Indeed, she grew alarmed as she read Charles Ingalls’ reasoning for leaving the Big Woods—that the land felt too full of people. “It’s not good for them to be alone,” she solemnly intoned, echoing her Heavenly Father’s word of wisdom in another long-ago time and place...Chosen with Care
("I imagine most of you have seen the film Gone With the Wind. If not, you have a treat waiting for you. It is interesting how Director David Selznick chose the leading lady...")The Space Between
How often do we find ourselves living in that space between “who we are” and “who we want to be?” It can be truly discouraging. As I was reflecting (or rather bemoaning) on my less than productive experiences – a reality jumped out in today’s Gospel. As Jesus starts calling His first apostles, the very guys who will be His inner circle, He looks at the one who is supposed to be “the Rock” of the Church; the one who will be our very first Pope – Jesus says – “You are Simon the son of John – you will be called Cephas (…Peter)” It’s interesting to me to think that Peter would find himself in the same spot as all of us – living in that space between who you are and who you will be...What Do You Want?
("I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the easiest person in the world to buy a gift for. Around November with my birthday coming up followed by the beginnings of Christmas shopping, the question will usually come from Mom, 'What do you want, honey?' Sometimes other family members will ask the same seemingly simple question as well: 'What do you want?'...")The Outrage of Outsiders: Why So Many People Dislike Christians
("In his book The Heart of Christianity (2003) Marcus Borg of Oregon State University describes how his university students have a uniformly negative image of Christianity...")The God Who Invites
["Nowadays there are many ways in which we may be called. From snail-mail (that's letter in plain speak) to email, to telephone, to internet calling. Communication at present is getting more and more visual while text-based platforms are lagging. Newspaper circulation worldwide is reducing even for illustrious papers like Le Monde and the New York Times. Publishers are struggling with trying to entice a reading audience with enhanced electronic forms of newspapers and books..."]I've Been Meaning to Ask: Where Are You From?
Sarah Culberson is a woman who set out to answer the question “where am I from” for herself. That journey led to some unexpected places. The story is best heard in her own words at https://youtu.be/Ie_m_eBevUI. There are so many parallels between her story and our theme. She had preconceptions about her biological father, which she consciously had to set aside. She had to consider his life and circumstances before she could even start to look for him. Then he invited her to Sierra Leone. Maybe he even said “come and see” and she did. I loved the description of her welcome – being given a dress that showed she belonged, hearing the song “we are preparing for Sarah”, knowing that she didn’t have to do anything, just showing up was enough. It’s a great story...She showed up and was profoundly welcomed just as she was. But it didn’t end there. Receiving hospitality led to responsibility. Finding her people meant sharing their difficulties as well as their joys. And it also meant telling the story to a wider and wider audience, so that individuals could recognize the truth in it and respond to it in their own contexts...Follow Your Bliss
("Author Joseph Campbell often talked about "following your bliss." I heard of a bus driver in Chicago who does just that. He sings while he drives. That's right... sings!...")Pass It On
It only takes a spark to get a fire going, And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing; That's how it is with God's Love, Once you've experienced it, Your spread the love to everyone You want to pass it on...Come Live in the Light
("For many years the great story has been told, of the man who walked the shores of Galilee. We're told of the many miracles which he does, to truly believe, you'll need to come and see. Oh come and see the eyes that he has opened, see the lives that he has mercifully restored. Come look at the broken hearts he's mended, just come and meet him, this wonderful Lord...")Jazz, True Grit and Come and See
("As Stanley Fish said about the new True Grit 'heroism, of a physical kind, is displayed by almost everyone, "good" and "bad" alike, and the universe seems at best indifferent, and at worst hostile, to its exercise." It was easier when we knew that the bad guys were all bad'...")Let Your Heart Be Light
Judy Garland, in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” introduced a song by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine called “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Let your heart be light.” As much as some decry the commercialization of Christmas, in the end, letting our hearts be light is really what it’s all about. And Epiphany is a season of light – a time to reflect on just how our hearts and our lives can be light. On Christmas Day, the reading from the Gospel of John said: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” This Second Sunday of Epiphany, we pray: “Christ is the Light of the World. … Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory.” And on the First Sunday After Christmas, we prayed: “Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives.” “Enkindle”: to stir up, fire up, inspire, rouse, awaken, ignite, instill, incite! It is all a way of saying that the Incarnation in which the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us – and does so by taking up residence in our hearts – the Light that is the Life of all people resides within us, at our center. He makes a home in our hearts...Come and See
he was an 11-year-old boy brought in, grey, floppy, silent and miserable and allocated by the senior consultant to my inexpert care. I took the story from the parents – it revealed little beyond their own level of fear which rendered them almost as inarticulate as their child. I examined every relevant bit, which informed me that I was in the presence of a seriously ill child, but told me nothing about what was making him so ill, or what exactly I should be doing about it. I sent off some blood tests, ordered an x-ray and hoped for enlightenment. An hour later, I was no wiser and no better informed. The parents were near frantic with worry and I was little better myself. All I still knew was that I was responsible for a very sick young man and had no idea what was wrong with him, or what exactly I should be doing about it. At last, having done – I thought – all that could reasonably be expected of me, I went to my consultant in exactly that hesitant, sideways, crabwise manner that a guilty penitent approaches the confessional. I was just steeling myself to confess my complete failure, ignorance and confusion, when she looked up, saw me coming and asked, "so how are you getting on with that lad with the pneumonia?" And I realized that what I had been unable to identify in an hour of intense questioning, comprehensive examination and excessive investigation, she had seen, recognised and understood in a casual glance from forty feet away. That, of course, was the product of her two decades of study, training and experience. And maybe – I wonder - that is also why John the Baptist can see things that others cannot.What Are You Looking For?
("In images and in Angie Lewin's own words, Plants and Places reveals some of the sources of her seeing. She tells of landscapes she has sought or stumbled upon, along with artists whose work has helped her develop her distinctive vision. The book closes with a wonderful, offbeat bibliography of books that are among Lewin's favorites...")The Christ-Child of the Year
For Christmas this year, I suggest we honor refugee children as the “Christ-Child of the Year.” They bring us as close to the original crib in Bethlehem as we can get within our world today because for them, as for Jesus two thousand years ago, there is no room at the inn...Every Tear Brings the Messiah Close
("Pierre Teilhard de Chardin offers a second metaphor here when he speaks of something he calls 'the raising of our psychic temperature'. In a chemistry laboratory it's possible to place two elements in the same test tube and not get fusion. The elements remain separate, refusing to unite. It is only after they are heated to a higher temperature that they unite. We're no different. Often it's only when our psychic temperature is raised sufficiently that there's fusion...")Longing, Desire and the Face of God
("At the center of our experience lies an incurable disease, a disquiet, a restlessness, a loneliness, a longing, a yearning, a desire, an ache for something we can never quite name. For what are we longing? What would satisfy our restless energy? Anne Frank, in her famous diary, asks exactly this question...")Come and See
Many years ago, what was then the American Baptist Convention had something called Life Service Sunday, a day to especially encourage people to consider ministry as a profession. In 1959 they published a brochure which told about how various leaders had been called to ministry. Joan Thatcher, publicity director of the American Baptist Convention, asked Martin Luther King, Jr. to compose a statement for that brochure. This is what King wrote: My call to the ministry was neither dramatic nor spectacular. It came neither by some miraculous vision nor by some blinding light experience on the road of life. Moreover, it did not come as a sudden realization. Rather, it was a response to an inner urge that gradually came upon me. This urge expressed itself in a desire to serve God and humanity, and the feeling that my talent and my commitment could best be expressed through the ministry. At first I planned to be a physician; then I turned my attention in the direction of law. But as I passed through the preparation stages of these two professions, I still felt within that undying urge to serve God and humanity through the ministry...Christian Conferencing: God's Blogs
("There she sat all alone in the huge house, surrounded by the finest in furnishings. Her husband had run off with a younger woman, his “girlfriend” he called her. Just a few days ago the wife had received a notice to vacate the house. It was only in his name and he and the girlfriend wanted to live there. So the wife sat in the fading light of love and of the late afternoon, in candlelight...")Epiphany 2B (2015)
I have been doing a good bit of online reading about the events in Tucson over the weekend. Several thoughts come to mind. I am so disheartened by the plans of Westboro Baptist Church to picket the funerals in Tucson—even that of Christina Green, the nine-year-old who was killed, because "God hates Catholics!" I watched the youtube video of Fred Phelps' thanking God for the violence and the killings, and offering prayer for more such as a sign of God’s vengeance on America. It made my blood run cold, and I found myself asking my computer screen, “What planet do you live on?” Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth I remember the question of John’s disciples in the gospel lection for this coming Sunday” Where do you live?”...Nice Guys Finish First
("I listened to a broadcast about Baboons. If the chief baboon is to keep his place in the order of things, he has to continually fight off other males for dominance in the group. One day he will lose that position to another. He will either continue to plummet down the chain until he finally has to leave the troop and face probable death or he has to find a way to stay with the group. Those who were brutal in their times of leadership are the ones who are most badly treated once they lose their position...")
Illustrated Resources from the Archives
Come and Become
("A teenager in love for the first time romances his date late into the night at their prom. When he gets home his parents ask if the band was good and who else was there and the young man does not seem to remember...")Called
("Fred Craddock has a story about when he was young, he and his brother used to gather falling stars. They spent many a pleasant summer evening watching for falling stars and running to the place where they had fallen and stuffing their pockets with them...")In the Right Place at the Right Time
("I had been there three weeks when a member of the church called me and said, 'Rosemary, my aunt has fallen and broken her hip. She's 85 and hasn't been able to go to church for some time. She doesn't have a pastor. Would you go to see her?'...")*Des Res (Desirable Residence)
("I dreamt one night Jesus took me with him. 'Come on' he said; 'Want to see where I live?' I went and He took me to an encampment, where people scrabbled for the basics of life. 'You know it kind of reminds me of my “refugee” beginnings in Bethlehem...")Grand Introductions
("When members of my family introduce someone, they always give that person an automatic promotion. If she’s a doctor, they will exaggerate, introducing her as a brilliant surgeon. A teacher’s aide becomes a full professor...")Unless Someone Guides Me
("There is a case in one African city where people wanted copies of the New Testament not because they wanted to read them but because the Bible paper was great for wrapping and smoking tobacco and other stuff....")Finding Jesus
("Two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta about his death in what would oddly enough become his eulogy. 'Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral,' Dr. King told his congregation. 'If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral..." and other illustrations)*Come and See
("Leonard I. Sweet gives a vivid description of the moment when he felt God confirmed his call to his first congregation. His description says, 'I had been appointed by the bishop to the missionary church in a small-college community in New York's Genessee Valley...")Ordinary 2B (2006)
("Once upon a time there were a group of young men who idolized the quarter back on the local NFL team (no cities in mind in this story). He was a great passer, a gutsy runner, he played despite pain...")*Perfect Happiness
("The Perfect Tribute starred Jason Robards, Lukas Haas, and Jeanne Tripplehorn, and tells the intriguing story of a teenage boy from the South during the American Civil War, who is searching for his older brother who is dying from war wounds in a Washington, D.C. hospital...")Ordinary 2B (2003)
Flannery O'Conner in one of her short stories tell of two fourteen -year-old girls who used to spend weekends with their relatives. Well, they're twins and are going through a very hyperactive stage, complete with giggling and secrets. And every now and then they call each other " Temple 1" and " Temple 2" and go off into peals of hysterical laughter. Finally the aunt demands to know what it's all about, and after much merriment the two girls try to explain. They begin to relate that Sister Perpetua, the oldest nun at the Sisters of Mercy in Mayville, had given them a lecture on what they should do if a young man should.. should... and they just couldn't finish. They broke into long and repeated peals of laughter and so had to start all over again. They said that Sister Perpetua said that what they should do if a young man should... and again they broke up. But after much hilarity and giggling they finally managed to finish the sentence,.. "If a young man would behave in an ungentlemanly manner with them in the back seat of an automobile." Sister Perpetua said they were to say, "Stop, sir, I am a temple of the holy Ghost!" and that would put an end to it...I Have a Dream: Celebrating and Remembering
And the American poet Carl Wendell Himes, Jr. who was only in his 20s when King was assassinated, articulated this domestication of King eloquently: "Now that he is safely dead Let us praise him build monuments to his glory sing hosannas to his name. "Dead men make such convenient heroes: They cannot rise to challenge the images we would fashion from their lives. "And besides, it is easier to build monuments than to make a better world."...The Verb 'To Be' Is Irregular in Every Language
Matthew Anderson says beneath the stone-like layers of hurt and rage, failure, disappointment, hopelessness, grossly distorted images of self there is a Phoenix ready to lift its wings and soar. There is within us a potential that he calls a Bird of Being...Do You Recognize Jesus' Call?
("The following is a much shortened version of Chapter 13 of Adventures in Reconciliation. 'I was born in 1955 in Belfast. My parents had a family of four. I left school at the age of fifteen. I had to sign on the dole, so we all began to hang around street corners. I began to mix with the kind of people that inevitably drew the attention of the IRA...")*Come and See
("I recently read a story about Gina Low. Gina was approaching what she called The Big Five-O , her 50th birthday. She was a divorcee with grown children who was not really expecting any major changes in her life...")Epiphany 2A (2005)
("But when we are called, it is primarily to be held for a while, not to go anywhere. By and by it will lead us somewhere. But we won't know where for a while, maybe for a long while. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about that with these words: 'If we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us? What decisions and partings will it demand?...")Come and See
("A pile of rocks ceases to be a pile a rocks when someone has a cathedral in mind. When you look in the mirror what do you see? What do you see when you look out at the world through the newspapers you read and the television you watch? Do you see a world filled with piles and piles of rocks or do you see cathedrals?...")Andrew
("I am thinking of a seventh grade confirmation student and her name is Carley Marchitto. Carley brought these three new friends to confirmation. These three friends did not belong to the church nor did their parents....")Fearfully, Wonderfully Made
("In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard marvels at the nonchalance of most Christians. 'On the whole,' she writes, 'I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely evoke?..." and other illustrations)Imagining the Unimaginable
"A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, 'Sir, there are living in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on forever, and so forth..."*Come and See
("Some years ago, a young English trainee journalist was invited to have the experience of going on the campaign of an American Presidential candidate. Like most trainee journalists, he had little respect for politicians. He saw them as vain, boastful, proud men and women, with few principles...")To See Heaven Opened
("I am reading a book by Gregory Howard Williams called Life on the Color Line. Williams grew after the Second World War in a segregated America, an America some of you remember all too well...")Imagining the Unimaginable
("Hear now a parable from the Buddhist canon. A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, 'Sir, there are living in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal...." and another illustration)*What Are You Looking For?
("As Frederick Buechner points out, "every story has a beginning –a time, a place, a set of characters, and the implied promise, which is common to all stories, that something is coming, something interesting or significant or exciting is about to happen...")When You Have Jesus
("Being a former college president, I was keenly aware young people struggled with feelings of inferiority. However, the more I've moved beyond campus borders, I've found that's not just a young person's problem. There are men and women who have spent most of their lives trying to escape from a crippling web of self-doubt...")*A Nobody Is a Somebody
With links to Emily Dickinson's poem I'm nobody! Who are you? and Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody.Come and See
("When Jesus invites Andrew to "Come and see," he is inviting them to see the world through different eyes, to understand the reality of their life in a whole new way. When Copernicus first talked about the world being round, he was almost laughed off the planet...")*Come and See
("Let me tell you about another couple whom Jesus encountered right where they were in life. Elisabeth and Barbara met in college and became best friends. And you know what they had in common? Both women loved daisies..." and other illustrations)*Ordinary 2B (2006)
("Terry Helms, a coal miner for thirty-five years, was the first body to be found in the Sago Mine after the explosion in West Virginia. His family was being interviewed on Good Morning America only hours after his body had been discovered...")It's Everybody's Business
("A young boy burst into the great throne chambers of a medieval king. The boy was skipping and singing as children do. He was completely oblivious to the regal sobriety of his surroundings. Suddenly, he was intercepted by an armored guard...")What Are You Looking For?
("The poet Kathleen Norris moved to the plains of South Dakota, where her family had lived and had deep roots. One day she had a conversation in a tavern with an old cowboy, who sought her out because she was from 'one of the old families'...")An Invitation That Will Change Your Life
("As a young struggling attorney, Abraham Lincoln got a chance to work with some famous big-city lawyers on a local case. One of the outsiders, upon seeing Lincoln, gasped, "What is that gawky ape doing here? Get him out of here...")An Invitation You Can't Refuse
("In A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, there is a story about a student who was unlike most students. One day in the 11th grade he went into a classroom to wait for a friend. The teacher appeared and asked him to go to the blackboard...")Starting Over
("The great Methodist pastor Charles Allen wrote that when he was in the fourth grade, the superintendent of the school mistreated him. It was a deliberate wrong which the man committed because he had fallen out with Charles' dad...")To Learn Is to Unlearn
("Sir Michael Costa was conducting a rehearsal in which the orchestra was joined by a great chorus. About halfway through the session, with trumpets blaring, drums rolling and violins singing their rich melody, the piccolo player muttered to himself, 'What good am I doing? I might just as well not be playing...")The Green Face of God: Christianity in an Age of Ecocide
("At bedtime I sometimes read to my five-year-old daughter the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax. The story takes place in a bucolic setting of heavily fruited Truffula Trees, Swomee-Swans, and Brown Bear Bar-ba-loots; it is a place where 'from the rippulous pond[s] / comes the comforting sounds / of the Humming-fish humming / while splashing around...")Ordinary 2B (1997)
("This weekend, our nation pays tribute to the life and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who heard God's call as described in the book of Samuel, discerned it and followed it, followed the invitation to 'come and see'. King was an unlikely leader. He was Black in a white country. He was a preacher fo the word of God in a world that prefers military men or politicians...")
Currently Unavailable
Imagining the Unimaginable
("Hear now a parable from the Buddhist canon. A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, 'Sir, there are living in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal...." and another illustration)